The method and system disclosed herein, in general, relates to heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. More particularly, the method and system disclosed herein relates to predictively controlling environmental conditions of multiple occupancy zones in an occupancy space.
A private residential or small commercial building typically uses a single thermostat for controlling the temperature of the building space. The temperature may be sensed and controlled in areas within the building space that are least likely to be occupied. If the entire building space is conditioned irrespective of actual occupancy by the occupants, conditioning of unoccupied parts of the building space leads to inefficient use of energy. Moreover, the building space is conditioned according to the temperature around a single thermostat, resulting in uneven conditioning of the building space. The uneven conditioning of the building space is exacerbated by leakage of heat from peripheral areas of the building. The temperature set on the single thermostat may not be comfortable for occupants occupying different areas of the building space and therefore there may be a need to frequently reset the temperature, which results in consumption of additional energy. Generally, programmable thermostats currently available are designed to adjust the temperature of the building space based on settings programmed by a user. The settings take effect at various times of the day to cater to different temperatures and comfort levels of the occupants. Furthermore, the programmable thermostats that are available require the user to be familiar with programming configurations to program the thermostat based on the comfort levels. The programming configurations may be complex.
Furthermore, if the occupants return to their private residence after spending a day outside, the residential building space may not be conditioned upon the arrival of the occupants. The occupants must first occupy the building space and then wait for the building space to be conditioned. While the occupants wait for the building space to be conditioned, they may have to bear uncomfortable environmental conditions, for example, extreme heat or extreme cold. Therefore, there is a need for predicting occupancy of the building space and conditioning the building space prior to occupancy by the occupants.
Hence, there is long felt but unresolved need for a user friendly HVAC system that attains maximum comfort levels and efficiently utilizes energy resources by predictively controlling environmental conditions of multiple occupancy zones in an occupancy space.